Morris Minor Owners Club

Are you sure?
I suspect it would just reinforce their extreme prejudice.

Erm...what exactly has Jeremy Kyle and his target audience got to do with this?

It's called thread drift
Happy to hear your got your car back.

Ah, thread drift! I had a couple of calls from the recovery garage today. It seems while there is only minor damage to a panel, the car will now not go in gear. This is worrying as I had the gearbox reconditioned 8 weeks ago. I have now had to make an insurance claim. Ho Hum!

Be SURE to fit a 'secret switch' (immobilser) when you get the car back.....

Make sure you will not be ripped of by the recovery garage as they may not be familiar with the quirks of a minor, can you insist the car is taken to a good minor friendly garage, it may be something as simple as a clutch or gear lever problem, who reconned the gearbox, it may not be covered by warrantee as it has been stolen, was it a minor garage, would they look at it and submit an estimate to insurance.
Ian

All in hand Ian. All work done on my car since I became the owner have been done at the same Minors garage. The assessor is looking at it where it is currently stored, then it is being taken over to the Morris center and they have been authorized to do the repairs.

Evadne Morris wrote:Erm...what exactly has Jeremy Kyle and his target audience got to do with this?

Judging by their accents, 90% of the throwbacks...err guests DO originate from Manchester!

I suppose it's latter day humiliation, whereas in the middle ages you'd put a victim in stocks & throw rotten cabbages at them, now you can switch the telly on at 0900 and laugh at their missfortune!

Anyway, any chance of pming me HUY's details?

Janet Evans Thanks for all your kind comments and support. Evadne is not yet back with me and may be away for weeks yet. I had a report from my usual Moggy Minors garage in Manchester this afternoon, the insurance engineer is going to inspect tomorrow but so far it seems the gearbox (reconditioned 8 weeks ago with new 1st/reverse) the prop-shaft (under 2 years old and the back axle are all wrecked. Odds are the clutch (4 months old) has gone the same way. I wonder what the hell the robbing swine was doing with my poor car.

I wonder if they have tried to tow it forwards when it was in reverse. Who knows.

POMMReg wrote:

Evadne Morris wrote:
Judging by their accents, 90% of the throwbacks...err guests DO originate from Manchester!

Hooray i'm in the 10% of something at last!

So now to the obvious.
What was fitted to the car to prevent the theft?
What can be done to prevent a recurrence?
Was a disklok fitted, secret switch? etched windows?
It would be useful to other owners to know which security systems do not work, if you get my drift.
Do let us know please.
Thanks, regards, Dick.

Apart from bolting it down on your driveway, wrapping chains around it etc, nothing is safe from these scum!

The best we can do is make life difficult for these lowlifes.

This is why owners should send in their vehicle's details to the MINORReg, it's easy to 'ring' a Minor, but VERY difficult for the criminals to alter the body & engine numbers.

If relying soley on the chassis number, you can easily buy a 'ringer'!

I understand that, but that only helps after its been nicked.
I am playing devils advocate here.
A professional tea leaf will indeed use everything at his disposal if the car for instance is a racing Ferrari Dino or some such,the returns on a vehicle of that ilk are worth the input.
An average morris minor, no matter how much we love them, does not bring the same level of profit margin so is not worth a vast input to said tea leaf.
Therefore I am willing to bet, if a disklok is used on a 65 2 door moggie like mine or similar then it wont get nicked, if also
windows are etched and a secret switch fitted, then the car just aint worth the effort.
Disklok £100.00 etching £25.00 secret switch? pennies.
Reduction in insurance premium? -£30.00 ?
So, and I think I already know the answer,
What security devices were fitted to the nicked vehicle to dissuade said tea leaf please?

With respect, a profit is a profit!

Acquire a cheap MoT failure, nick a good example, give it a quick re-spray, switch identity and sell it on...

It's been done, and will continue to be done until enthisiasts check ALL identity numbers.

The car had recently fitted new locks as the old were easy to open enen with a strong finger nail, windows etched. As the car travels less than 3 miles most days and is parked under the office window when I am working, indoors in integral garage when at home within a locked gated area with our on CCTV recording.

Switch to be added and steering wheel lock already purchased.

even change the number of the wreck by putting number on a retention cert

Exactly, so the persons born out of wedlock can make even more!

And adding numbers to a database is grand but wont stop the tea leaf, proactive prevention is pretty key.
Visible difficult security makes the opportunist think twice.
The object, any police officer will confirm, is to prevent crime rather than act on it after the event.
The only fast efficient way to nick a motor disklocked is to tow it, yer average scumbag doesnt want to be that visible.
This car was not fitted with a disklok or cut out switch.
The owner knows that and is fitting them.
The vast majority of nicked cars are not nicked to order and cloned,they are sold cheap after being broken for spares.
My guess is the vast majority of stolen classics lack even the most basic security required.
Me, I would like to wire mine to 240v, sadly thats not legal.

You could also try and put Remote deadlock central locking. I have on mine and it does really work.